The Ice Maker
by SukiNora
Summary: 1 2 one shot. Duo's at Preventers late one night, and finds himself unable to work due to dehydration. Heero comes and inquires what is so special about ice.


The Ice Maker

Suki Nora

A.N. Just to let you know I'm still alive, and still planning to write. It's just hard to find time and the inspiration. However, the inspiration for this piece hit me like a truck full of...ice, when I had none and needed it for a delicious glass of lemonade. Happy reading! I hope you enjoy.

--

I glared down at my glass. It was always the same shit in that damned office. Forced overtime, incompetent co- workers, mountainous piles of paperwork, and no ice.

After a ten hour shift I didn't think it was too much to ask for a few pieces of ice for my water, but apparently, someone else did. There are some people at Preventers who don't believe it is there duty to refill the ice trays, and I hate them. It's almost like they think they're too good to refill them, or that there are people with the specific job of filling the trays with water, clearly explaining why there was always ice in the company freezer when they wanted it. Too bad there was never any ice when I needed it. Yes, need. For me, ice is not a want, it is a necessity.

I let out a sigh and let my head fall onto my desk. I couldn't get any work done like this. I was too dehydrated. My spit was getting all thick and sticky, and I was starting to get one of those "I'm thirsty" head aches that never seem to pound, just radiate pain in pulsations. I cursed my stupidity, why was I always slamming my head when it did not need to be slammed.

My self pitying was interrupted by my watch beginning to beep, my face cringing in pain as my headache began to worsen from the annoying sound. It was ten o' clock. The guys were on their way to a late movie with our dear friend Quatre, a man who we barely got to see anymore. He had just been shuttled to earth that morning, and we had all planned to spend the day with him. Just spending guy time and catching up. You know, eating steaks, catching a ball game, telling old war stories, and then watching a horrifically violent movie. It was a perfect day, and I was all set to go when I got the call.

"Fucking paperwork," I mumbled to myself, placing my palm on top of the remaining ten sheets and resisting the urge to take them in my hands and crumple them until they were the size of a quarter. "I could have been eating a steak if it weren't for you," I growled, my face getting closer and closer to the papers with each syllable.

"Talking to yourself again?"

I spun myself around in Wufei's whirly chair and glared at the intruder. "I'll have you know that I am speaking to my paper work, smart ass."

It was hard for me to keep a smile off my face. It seemed like ever since we began working at the Preventers, Heero was always lurking around He had an amazing knack for showing up right when I was doing something stupid or embarrassing. Granted, at first it was probably one of the most infuriating things about working with the perfect soldier, but after a while it just became routine. Comfortable. If there was one thing I could always count on, it would be that Heero would always show up around the time when I did something retarded.

Heero gave a slight nod and walked over to my desk, plopping down on top of my dwindled mountain of paperwork and let a small smile expand across his face. But not the nice kind, the "I'm going to mock you now," kind. The kind of smile that had become so routine, and so comfortable.

"Is that really much better, Duo? Talking to inanimate objects."

I sighed and leaned back in the chair, bringing my hand up to rub over my temples. "I'm dehydrated. I don't really think I feel like explaining this to you."

"Explaining what?" Came his inquisitive little voice. Heero was never able to hide his curiosity very well, his eyes usually light up and his voice gets higher, just like a seven year old boy. "I'm not asking you to explain why you're talking to your paper work, if that's it. I've seen you talk to many inanimate objects before. Remember last week with your stapler?"

"Just shut up, okay?" I asked, though it came out more as a whimper than any request. I didn't need to be reminded of my stupidity, especially that specific bout of it. That bout was the product of forced over time as well, but not in combination with dehydration like this time. That time was more about being tired, not being able to go home, and not being able to get my fricken stapler to staple.

"Okay," he responded, lowering his gaze to my paper work. "You're almost done."

I felt my eyes fold into a glare. Ah Heero, always stating the obvious.

"Yeah, too bad that I'll never be done because of this fucking headache," I muttered, using my foot to push off my desk and send me spinning in circles. "I've been looking at this one question for," I glanced down at my watch. "Twenty minutes now."

"You know that's probably not helping it," Heero responded, holding his arm out to stop me in mid- spin. "All that's going to do is slosh the blood in your brain around."

Heero was always spouting out medical advice, it was one of his many calling cards.

I glared at him. "How would you know," I growled out, throwing my arm up to break his hold on my shoulder, and kicked off of my desk, spinning myself faster than I had initially planned and did indeed feel the blood in my head begin to slosh. His medical advice is usually right by the way.

"Since when has your chair spun," he asked, trying to remain as calm as a cucumber. I've always wondered in the back of my head whether or not anything could actually bother Heero. Sure, he gets really annoyed when I completely go against what he tells me to do, but I'm pretty sure that's more of a power trip problem than a bothersome one. Or maybe it's bothersome to him that I so obviously refuse to follow his authority.

"It's Wufei's," I said simply.

Heero sighed, and I could see his arm twitching. He wanted to stop my spinning, but didn't want me to know, and so he restrained himself. "You know he gets really testy when you take his stuff without his permission."

"Well, he knows I get testy when he doesn't refill the ice trays," I shot back. I was not really in the mood for a lecture, especially not one that stated all the reason I should be more respectful towards that chinese twat. As far as I'm concerned, you get what you give. He takes my ice, I take his chair.

"So?"

"Again, I really do not feel like explaining it to you. I have a really bad headache."

I glanced over to see Heero reach for one of my papers. "Duo, this question is asking for your Preventers ID."

I put my feet down to slow my circles, my shoes bouncing slightly against the carpet with each passing revolution. "I know," I said, glaring at the man who was becoming increasingly less welcome with every sentence he uttered.

"It's taken you twenty minutes to figure out your Preventers ID?"

"I'm _really_ dehydrated, okay?" I growled, rubbing my temples and snatching my paper out of his loose grip.

"Why don't you drink some water?" He asked, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You must really need some liquids if you can't remember your Preventers ID."

"I cannot drink my water," I growled. If my gaze were x-rays, Heero would have had a hole through his forehead. "There is no ice."

"So?" He responded. "It's just ice."

"Just ice?" I sputtered, pushing away from the desk to stand in front of that petty excuse for a man.

"This," I started, gripping my glass tightly in my hand to as I raised it to his head to show him my one lone, melting piece of ice. "Is not just ice."

Heero squinted into the glass. "It looks just like ice to me."

"Oh my God," I yelled, pulling the glass away and feeling little sprinkles of water hit my face and neck. "You wouldn't understand, just go."

I had reached the end of my Heero tolerance tether. It was always kind of sad when that happened, but it was hard to be upset because usually when I'd reach the end of my rope, and then he'd leave, it was like a great weight was being lifted from my shoulders.

It was just then when it occurred to me. "Hey, wait, why aren't you with the guys right now?"

Heero leaned forward, using his palms to push off my desk and head to the office door. "I was sent to collect you. We thought maybe you were done and had just fallen asleep on your desk."

"I wish," I mumbled. "It's okay, just go. I'll see you all tomorrow anyway."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure," I said, my patience running out. "Just go."

Heero nodded before he walked out, probably sensing that I was about to get hostile, and lightly closed my door behind him.

I let out a long sigh as I stared at my pathetic little ice cube. "What a night," I mumbled, running my hand through my bangs.

It is true that in the past I have had some, shall I say, issues with falling asleep at my desk when I'm working late. It's no one's fault really, just that when you're staring at a piece of paper for so long it seems inevitable for the words to blur and your eyes to drop. That night was one of my issue nights.

I woke up the next morning with the last piece of my paper work stuck to my face, the words smudged from my saliva that trailed out of the side of my mouth.

"Great," I muttered to myself, letting out a yawn and cursing my luck when I realized it was 9 a.m. To be fair I guess I wasn't really late to work. Just late getting to my work.

As I began straightening my desk up, I caught a glimpse of the glass I left out last night. I expected to see luke warm water, iceless, and stale. What I saw, was something completely different.

My glass was completely filled to the brim with ice. Upon a closer inspection I saw that there was also a miniscule amount of water between the blocks of ice.

A small smile found it's way onto my face as I grasped the glass tightly in my hand, raising it to my lips. I could feel the freezing water pour down my throat, and it was like all the stress accumulated from my paperwork just, ironically, melted away.

My smile grew as I set my glass down, and left my office to find Heero.

And there he was. His frame poised over the Preventers sink, refilling the ice cube trays.

End


End file.
